Eye on ‘Gay Muslims’

Here we talk about halal and haram, obedience to God, resisting blameworthy desires – and many visitors to the site only want to talk about love. Lest I be guilty of ignoring that side of things, please see the article above for a start (at SuhaibWebb.com).

I am planning to write a detailed post about love (if God wills), perhaps taking its title from a phrase in Imam Ibn Hazm’s fascinating Ring of the Dove, where he says: “The best thing a person can do out of love is be chaste.”

In striving to clarify the teachings of Islam regarding sexuality, and inviting the creation to obey their Creator in what He commanded them and prohibited them from, while responding to false claims and misconceptions, we hope to be counted among the callers to Allah, of whom the Qur’an says:

And who is better in speech than one who invites to Allah, works righteousness, and says: “I am of the Muslims”?
[41:33]

Name-calling does not hurt us, but it is sad to see how readily the people towards whom this sincere advice and invitation is directed turn against those who – from their hearts – wish the best for them. Sometimes medicine is bitter. The Qur’an provides many examples of the people’s rejection of their prophets and other reformers, which we may exemplify here with the case of the People of Lut (peace be on him):

But his people’s response was only that they said: “Eject them from your town. They are a people who want to be pure!”
[7:82]

When we tell people (Muslims!) that homosexual acts are forbidden in the Qur’an and Sunnah in the strictest terms, and that the person who engages in them will receive severe divine punishments if he does not repent, some people call us oppressors (“homophobes”). Well what should we be, “haramophiles”? If the person who is forbidden from following his desires considers himself oppressed, or – as they say – a victim of discrimination, then who is the guilty party?

When I tell someone to abstain from a sin he is attracted to (and claims to be created desiring it!) I am not his oppressor, because: (1) I did not create him; (2) I did not legislate the prohibition of that act. So if either of these things is the “crime”, then would someone accuse Almighty God!! Glory be to Him, Who does not oppress anyone in the least.

{…And your Lord does not wrong anyone.} [18:49]

In fact, if someone were walking to a place to commit a sin, and he happened to fall and break his leg, this would be the greatest divine mercy upon him. How much better that we receive admonition and heed it, seeking the pleasure of Allah and safety from His wrath.

Finally, as I said to someone who was seeking to justify homosexual acts in the name of mercy: “Our approach says that anyone can be a Companion of Paradise, while yours seeks to give people vain hopes then send them to Hell.”

Inayat Bunglawala is a British activist who is not afraid to express opinions that upset enemies of Islam and Muslims, or sometimes fellow Muslims. I appreciate his efforts, even if I disagree with some things he says. Recently he has supposedly opened debates on the place of “homosexuals” (by which we mean here: people who identify as such, or same-sex attracted people who don’t) among the Muslim community – debates we have been advocating on this blog for a long time, alhamdu lillah.

But what sort of support? I think anything that could be done to jeopardise a human being’s standing before his Lord does not deserve to be dubbed “support”. As religious people, we should only advocate support that entails guiding people to goodness in this life and satisfaction in the Hereafter.

Bunglawala mixes a few issues that really ought to be addressed individually. First, he praises the Muslim Council of Britain’s support for the Equality Act a few years ago:

I don’t know, this just struck me as a weird way of putting it. It seems to mean that 100% of British Muslims have 0% tolerance of homosexuality, which we know is not true of course – given that there are unfortunately some Muslims who try to justify it. I know some people may argue with me that people who justify major sins are not truly Muslims, but I’d point out that (a) one shouldn’t engage in casual takfeer, and (b) I’m sure Gallup weren’t engaging in such a question-begging exercise!

Which leads onto the question about what this “tolerance” is supposed to mean. Personally, I tolerate (unhappily) the presence of homosexuality in our society the same way I tolerate (sadly) the existence of atheism and worship of false gods. People generally have a “live and let live” attitude – though I’m not suggesting that it’s wrong to campaign for what you believe in. The sense in which I am not tolerant towards homosexuality is when I consider its standing morally, i.e. religiously. There are so many nuances to this discussion which just don’t come across in polls, let alone media reports on those polls.

I’m just glad they wrote “homosexuality” in the headline rather than saying “zero tolerance of homosexuals”, because the last thing we need is more suggestion that British Muslims are just waiting for their chance to execute gays! Remember this one? “London Muslims overwhelmingly oppose gays”

This is one of the common refrains and undertones in the not-quite-dialogue between the Queer Muslims and the wider Muslim community to whom they are too terrified to justify their deviant opinions and actions.

Whether it’s the confused individuals trying to find their way through difficult feelings and questions (for whom we have patience and sympathy) — or those few contemptible people who try to mislead others with emotional rhetoric and pseudo-theological sophistry — the claim that “Allah made me this way” is something that needs a bit of analysis.

It’s a question I ask myself often. I haven’t done enough research to present my own thesis. I do assert that it has more to do with campaigning than common sense – i.e. rather than it being about righting wrongs, it was a case of convincing the right people of certain things. A successful campaign, no doubt – but it hasn’t reached its ultimate conclusion. The public (even the non-religious public) is not 100% free of “homophobic” attitudes, but homosexualists might think that the hard work is all over, and things will change just with the passage of time (and the continuation of the present strategies). Still, these pesky Muslims aren’t buying the whole “LGBTIQ rights” thing like the Christians and others did. Being against sexual abominations isn’t yet seen by mainstream Muslims as a betrayal of the faith’s principles. So on with the Queer Muslim Reformation…

Take a look at these interesting articles and let us know what you think. I take it to be a debate between a Christian and an atheist.

A while ago, I mentioned a thesis we came across by Dr. Heba Kotb, who now has her own website and satellite television show. The AP report about this show was picked up by numerous newspapers around the world, indicating a great interest in this woman giving sex advice on Arab TV.

On her show, “Big Talk,” Kotb answers questions from Muslims all over the Middle East about the most intimate bedroom issues with an openness that is shocking and revolutionary in a society where discussing the subject is taboo.

“How do I talk about these issues? Very seriously,” the Egyptian sexologist says. “I put on a mask-like face and make sure I speak in the right tone of voice.” She also does it by talking about sex in an Islamic light, arguing that the faith is in favor of pleasure for both men and women, with one important caveat – that it be only in the context of marriage.

[…]

Kotb, 39 and married with three daughters, studied sexology with Maimonides University, a private school in Florida, and combined it with her own knowledge of her religion to produce a dissertation titled “Sexuality in Islam.” She opened a sexology clinic in Cairo in 2002, wrote sex advice columns in newspapers, appeared on talk shows and answered questions on an Arabic Web site. She started “Big Talk” on the independent Egyptian satellite channel El-Mehwar more than two months ago.

Much of her advice is straight biology – laying out facts rarely aired elsewhere. Nothing is too sensitive. She discusses sexual positions, female orgasm, oral sex (allowed, “since there is no religious text banning it”), even masturbation (frowned upon but at least preferable to unmarried or adulterous sex, which is “haram,” meaning forbidden by religion). She takes a strict Islamic line on homosexuality – she calls it a disease.

A Unique Perspective

Here we discuss the concept and emergence of "Gay Muslims", considering that homosexual activity is clearly forbidden in Islam. We kindly advise Muslims struggling with same-sex attraction, affirming that nobody is sinful for what they feel inside. As for those people who try to distort the religion, we refute them soundly with evidence.